When I see your light shine (I know I'm home)
by laptopheroine
Summary: Annie Walker gave up her and Ben Mercer's child for her own safety, but she never forgot. When her daughter reappears in her life fifteen years later, could this be when Annie's life truly begins? And will it be the thing that finally pushes Auggie and Annie together?
1. Chapter 1

Annie tells Auggie about her daughter after three years of working with him. It's her daughter's birthday, a day that always brings a lot of emotions with it, and all Annie wants is five minutes with the daughter she never got the chance to know. Auggie watches her all day, with her eyes out of focus and her mind clearly somewhere else, and instead of inviting her to Allen's, like he would do normally, he invites her to his place, where he has Patron and privacy. They get to his house, sit on the couch in silence for a minute. "So what's up, Walker?" Auggie asks in a quiet voice.

"Nothing's up, Aug."

"Nice try. I've known you for five years now, you think I can't tell when my best friend's upset? Come on."

And that's all it takes. Annie starts to sob, and as she does she tells Auggie a story. Of how she met Ben Mercer on a beach when she was nineteen, found out she was pregnant a month after he abandoned her and had to give the baby up, as her father, a general, was currently being targeted and her own acceptance into CIA training made it dangerous. She tells him how her child is six now, adopted by a lovely couple, probably has a wonderful life. "I just wish she could've had a wonderful life with _me_, you know?" she murmurs sadly.

Auggie wraps an arm around her shoulders and she leans her head on his. "I know, Walker. I know."

And they leave it at that. For nine years, not much is said about Baby Walker (a nickname Auggie gives her) except on her birthday, when the two go to Auggie's or Annie's apartment and speculate.

"Maybe she's a dancer," Auggie will say.

"Or a soccer player," Annie will reply.

"I bet she's had her first date by now," Auggie says on her thirteenth birthday.

"I'll kill him," Annie replies.

It's. . . nice. Not perfect, but nice. Annie likes it that someone else knows. She never told her parents. Danielle was angry that she'd given her daughter up and hasn't brought it up since. The CIA knows, obviously, but that's not the same as Auggie knowing. With him, she doesn't have to feel ashamed, either that she'd gotten pregnant or given Baby Walker up. She feels safe, talking about it with him. She knows he won't judge.

Everything changes the day she gets the letter. She's just gotten home from a long and eventful trip in Africa involving the Indian Ocean, some Somali pirates, and a very precocious heiress that had been taken hostage. She's tired, beaten down, and she's really not sure what she can handle right now. But she picks up the letter, not knowing what it contains. There is no return address, no writing on the envelope aside from her full name and her address. She opens the envelope and pulls out the letter. It's handwritten on a sheet of refill paper, the blue ink smudged and the handwriting a little scrawly.

_To Anne Walker,_

_I'm not really sure how to say this, but I've been sitting here staring at this piece of paper for the past hour and a half so I figured I should just go with it. My name's Xena. I'm your daughter. I've been looking for you for a couple of years now, and I just found your address. I want to meet you, if you do too. _

_If you're ready to meet, I'll be on the Arlington Memorial Bridge at noon on Friday, wearing a red windbreaker. If you're not, I'll accept that._

_Xena Handover_

"And she didn't leave a return address, a phone number?" Auggie asks through the phone.

Annie shakes her head before realising he can't see it. "Nothing. She just gave me that ultimatum."

"You know, I can probably get you her contact details. There are perks to being a CIA agent."

"I don't want them like that. I'm gonna meet her on Friday."

"You sure about this?"

"I've never been so sure of anything in my entire life. I wanna meet her."

"Okay, if this is what you wanna do, I'll back your play."

"Thanks, Aug."

"Anytime."

Annie hangs up and returns to staring at the letter. She's read it probably twenty times in the last ten minutes, running her fingers over the ink. She notices that Xena has drawn a bunch of tiny flowers in the top left corner.

Annie smiles to herself. _My daughter likes to doodle_, she thinks.

_My daughter._

Friday doesn't come fast enough. Auggie makes sure that the only case they have that day is the case of the killer paperwork, so at eleven thirty sharp Annie bolts out of her chair and makes her way, as fast as she can, to the Arlington Memorial Bridge.

She scans the bridge immediately, looking for the telltale red windbreaker. Finally, at twelve oh two, she sees it out of the corner of her eye.

Xena's shorter than she would've guessed, considering Ben's height and Annie's own. She has caramel-coloured hair, in the middle of blonde and brown, falling in waves just past her shoulders. Her eyes are the same Carribean blue as Ben's.

Annie lifts a hand in an awkward wave, smiles. Xena looks behind her before slowly walking towards her, meeting her at the railing.

"Hi," Annie says.

"Hi," she replies, voice a little shaky. She's nervous, but she's still here, so Annie counts it as a win. "Are you Anne?"

"Annie, yeah. Xena?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty name."

"My mom picked it."

Silence falls. Annie has never wanted to leave a place so much. She's also never had such a desire to stay.

_So this is what nervous feels like_, Annie thinks. _Thirteen years of being CIA and I've never felt like this_.

Annie decides to start the conversation. "So how was growing up with the Handovers? I vetted them like four times so I hope they're good parents."

"They were, until Mom died in a car accident when I was five and Dad followed her four months later."

Pain twists in Annie's stomach, tightening when she sees the look on Xena's face. "I'm so sorry. Did you at least have family?"

"Dad's parents died before I was born and Mom's disowned her when she married Dad. I've been in the foster system."

Annie knows what the foster system does to people. She never wanted it to happen to her daughter, but here they are. "I'm sorry. I never- I never wanted your life to turn out like that."

Xena shrugs, in the casual, unassuming way a person does when they care deeply about something but are pretending not to. "You didn't screw up the foster system. It's why I reached out, actually. I age out in three years; been trying to come up with a backup plan."

"In case what?"

"In case my plan of being adopted by Daddy Warbucks doesn't work out."

Xena's face lights up when Annie bursts out laughing. "Well, don't get your hopes up there. I hear the world ran out of Daddy Warbuckses right after _Annie_ left Broadway," she replies.

"Well, crap." Xena smiles at Annie, and good lord she would give that child the world right now if she could.

They talk for another minute before the inevitable question comes up. "So, what do you do?" Xena asks.  
"I work for the Smithsonian, in their acquisitions department." Annie shakes her head, looks around, before impulsively blurting out, "That's not true. I just lied; the Smithsonian's only a cover. I'm a covert CIA operative. It's why I had to give you up."

Honestly, "What the hell?" is the first thing that comes to Xena's mind, and out of her mouth. "_What the hell?"_ She takes a step back, and another, and another. "I can't deal with this. I have to- I can't- I gotta go."

And so, Annie's first meeting with her daughter ends with said daughter bolting away in a dead sprint.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hi there! So sorry for the late post - gotta love uni life. Hope you're liking the story so far! I promise the Annie/Auggie romance is coming soon, I just wanted to make sure Xena was established in the story first. Please please review! xo laptopheroine

Annie marches into Auggie's office and slams her palms on his desk. "I did something bad."

"What? You didn't try out a new hairstyle, did you? Annie, you _know _bangs don't suit you."

"Little worse than bangs."

"Nothing's worse than bangs."

"I read Xena in."

"Oh. Yeah, that's definitely worse than bangs." He pushes his chair away from his desk, looking up at the direction of her voice. "How'd she take it?"

She tilts her head. "She took off. Running."

"Hey, coulda been worse."

"_How?_ How could it have been worse?"

"She could've blown your cover."

"She still might." Annie flops into the seat next to him. "But I couldn't lie to her, Auggie. I just- I looked at her, and I saw- and I felt-"

"Everything."

"_Everything._ She's my _daughter._ I wanted us to start on even footing."

He reaches out and squeezes her arm. "I understand."

"Thank you for being on my side."

"No place I'd rather be. But I do _not _wanna be on your side when you tell Joan."

"I figured. I'm gonna do it now, might as well get it over with."

Annie knocks on Joan's door before entering.

"Annie," Joan gives her a curt nod. "What can I do for you?"

"I have to tell you something."

"Oh no."

"I read in Xena."

"Xena? Xena, as in the fifteen year old girl you met _yesterday_?"

"Andi as in my _daughter._ Her entire life has been full of lies, I didn't wanna be another person deceiving her. What's the CIA's protocol on reading in operatives' children?"

Joan sighs and begins rummaging around her desk. "You ask this now. Uh, the good news is you technically didn't break any protocols because we don't have any. Children are a messy grey area in the handbook. Of course you want your children to know who you are and what you do but if they're too young they could let it slip by accident, and teenagers have been known to leverage it against their parents."

"Waitwaitwait, holdon. We've had teenagers _sell out_ their parents because they're grounded?"

"No, but we've had teenagers tell their friends, or family members that aren't or can't be read in, and sometimes that leads to dangerous consequences. We typically recommend an Agency therapist for after or sometimes during the read-in of the child so these things don't happen. We also recommend that foster children aren't told until they're a permanent part of the family and that the agents have known them for at least two years and have all their background information to prevent possible leaks."

"Okay, so what you're saying is, even though there's no protocol I did everything wrong."  
"Well, when you put it that way. . ."

"Ugh. Is there anything I can do to fix it?"

"No. If you chase her down and push her to sign an NDA it could ruin her trust in you and any relationship you hope to have with her."

"Wait, I thought this was all about protocol."

"There are more important things than protocol." For the first time in the whole conversation, Joan stops rummaging and looks at Annie. "I know it cost you everything to give her up. I don't want you to lose your chance at actually having a relationship with her."

"Thank you, Joan."

She smiles weakly. "Of course."

Annie spends the rest of the day writing up reports and trying not to think about Xena. When she gets home, she flops in front of the TV, trying and failing to keep a particular teenage girl out of her mind. The next day, she dives into the latest case, returning home just before midnight.

There's another letter, this one with a phone number at the bottom and a drawing of a little stick figure girl in the top right corner.

The first thing she does is call Auggie. "Hey, Walker, everything okay?"

"Xena wrote me another note. She wants to meet with me tomorrow morning."

"That's great! I'll cover for you with Joan if you're late."

"Thank you."

"Tell me how it goes," he says before she hangs up.

Annie meets Xena at the same bridge where they first met. Xena is nervous; Annie can tell by the way she fiddles with her hair. It's the same thing she used to do when she got nervous, before the Farm trained it out of her.

"Hi," Annie says.

"Hi," Xena replies.

"How are you?"

"I'm, uh. . ."

"Me too." She offers an awkward smile.

"So, I've been thinking. What you told me was crazy. Like, craziest thing I've ever heard. It made me kind of terrified for a while." She pauses. "I spent the past two years trying to figure out who you were. I combed through birth records, hospital cases, the foster system. . . I pushed and I pushed and I pushed and now you're in front of me, and I still don't know who you are."

"I know. I'm so sorry, Xena, for all of this."

"I want you to be a part of my life."

"What?" Annie has to admit, this is not where she saw this going.

"I wanna know more about you. I want you to know more about _me._ I want us to have a real relationship. That is- if that's what you want, too?"

"_Hell_, yes." Annie laughs and Xena does too. Suddenly, impulsively, Xena reaches out and hugs Annie. Annie hugs back, tighter, and lets tears run down her face as she smiles.

She doesn't think she's ever been so happy.

Two weeks later, after seeing Xena twice and talking to her every day, Annie comes to a decision.

"I want you to meet Xena," she announces one evening.

"Really? You're sure?"  
"You're my best friend, of course I want you to meet her. Besides, I'm trying not to keep anything from her. I've got permission from Joan to bring her to the DPD."

"Seriously? That's huge. What'd you do to get her to say yes?"

"Nothing, actually. Turns out she's a sucker for a family reunion."

"I wonder why. So when's Xena coming?"

"Friday."

"I'll wear my nice blazer."

She laughs. "Thanks, Auggie."

When Wednesday comes around, Xena spends about an hour being polygraphed and signing twenty different confidentiality forms before she's allowed to enter the DPD. Annie meets her outside the polygraph room and ceremoniously walks her into the DPD.

Of course, the first person Xena meets is Auggie.

"Annie Walker," he says. "No perfume today? And we're in _flats._ The last time I saw you wearing flats in the office was when you broke your leg in Nigeria."

"I'm over here, Auggie," Annie says from a foot to his right. "That's Xena right in front of you."

"Baby Walker! My apologies. My vision isn't quite what it used to be." Auggie extends a hand and Xena shakes it nervously. "August Anderson, at your service."

"Hi."

"Wow, Annie, you were right. She does look just like you."

Xena scoffs, hiding a smirk. Auggie notices it's the same thing Annie does when she tries to pretend that she doesn't find his jokes funny.

"As you can tell, Auggie is not known around the office for his shyness," Annie says. "Or his subtlety."

"Hey, I can be subtle."

"Sure you can, Patron-in-my-desk-drawer."

The three are interrupted by Joan. "What's this about Patron?"

"Nothing," Annie says quickly. "Joan, this is my daughter Xena."

"Joan Campbell," she says with a smile, efficient as always. "Annie's boss and head of the DPD."

"Oh, _you're_ Joan."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! Annie just talks about you a lot, that's all."

"I'm afraid to ask."

"She says you're half the reason she's not in an international prison right now."

"Oh." Joan gets a funny little smile on her face.  
"I'm the other half," Auggie pipes up.  
"Hey, don't I get any credit?" Annie asks.

"If we left you to your own devices you'd be in a Siberian blacksite twenty times over."

"If you'll excuse me," Joan says before the bickering can get any worse, "I have a department to run. It was wonderful to meet you, Xena."

"So what'd you think of the office?" Annie says on the drive back to her house.

"It's nice. Can't imagine you spend much time there."

"No, I don't. Always feels like coming home, though. Did you like Auggie?"

"I love Auggie. He's great. You guys are cute together."

"What? No, we're not together."

"Come on, course you are. You practically finish each other's sentences."

"Yeah, he's my best friend. He has been for twelve years. Of course we're in sync."

"Whatever you say," Xena replies, but she has a funny little half-smile on her face for the rest of the drive.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hi guys! I am soooo sorry for the long wait! I've had this chapter on my computer for like three months but I couldn't finish the darn thing. Here it is - hope it was worth the wait! xo laptopheroine

Chapter 3

"How's the arm?" Auggie asks as Annie walks into his office.

"I've had worse," she replies, peeling back the bandage and inspecting the stitches on her forearm. The cut is long but not too deep, a result of a nasty fight.

"How are you gonna tell Xena what happened?"

"The same thing I always tell her. It's classified but I'm okay and we got the job done."

"I'm not sure that'll work this time. She's never seen you this beat up."

"It'll be fine, Aug. Besides, I won't even be seeing her until the weekend. That gives a couple days for the bruises to settle down."

"Alright, fine, I'll drop it. Go home, Walker."

"Allen's, tomorrow night?"

"You bet."

Annie falls asleep watching a movie, waking up to a phone call less than two hours later. The number's unknown. "Annie?"

"Xena? Why aren't you using your phone?"

"I need you to pick me up."

"From where?"

"The police station."

"Why the _hell_ are you at the police station?"

"I uh, got arrested."

Annie bolts to the police station, where Xena is sitting on a chair next to an officer's desk. She's soaking wet, with her backpack and suitcase next to her. She looks completely downtrodden.

Annie forgets all about her own pain. She has the immediate urge to wrap her daughter in a blanket and then kill whoever made her look like this.

The officer stands, offers a hand for Annie to shake. "She was found in Montrose Park sleeping on a bench. We're not pressing charges but we have issued her a warning. Her social worker was unavailable, so asked to call you."

"Thank you. Can I have a moment alone with her?"

"Of course. Come find me when you're done and we'll sign the release paperwork."

Xena follows Annie into a relatively quiet hallway. The first thing Annie does is hug her. "I'm so glad you're safe," she says. She pulls away and looks at her daughter. "Now what the hell were you doing sleeping in a public park?"

"The Holloways kicked me out. I came home late after the gym and they said that if I couldn't live by their rules I couldn't live there at all."

"So you decided sleeping in a _public park_ after _dark _was the better option?"

"I didn't have anywhere to go."

"Yes, you did! You had me! Why on earth wouldn't you think you have me?"

"I'm sorry," Xena says quietly. "I've never had someone to call in the middle of the night before."

Annie sighs. "I know we've only known each other for a few weeks but I'm your _mother_. You are supposed to come to me when you need anything, and I mean _anything._ I don't care if you robbed a bank, you need help you call me, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, let's go home."

"Home?"

"You didn't really think I'd send you to another foster home after this, did you? You'll come home with me and tomorrow I'll call your social worker and get guardianship of you, if that's what you want."

"You mean- you really want-" Xena's not making sense, but the teary smile on her face is more than enough indication of what she's feeling. She throws her arms around Annie's neck. Annie returns in kind, laughing. "Of course I want you to live with me."

Over the next week or so, Annie learns a lot of things about Xena that she never thought she'd get the chance to. She learns that she always leaves dishes in the sink, watches trashy sitcoms well into the night, and can make a dessert with almost anything in the pantry including bacon. It's surprisingly good, too.

Xena learns how to be taken care of. How to put her laundry in with someone else's, how to catch rides to school and ask for help with her homework. How to watch a musical and sing wildly and out of tune with her partner, how to learn which games are great to play with Auggie and which are terrible. She learns how to respond to a nickname, Zee,

She learns how to be loved.

Less than a month into this arrangement, unbeknownst to Xena, Annie begins to go through the proper channels to get permanent custody of Xena. While she waits for the long process to go through, she encourages Xena to try new things, to find something she enjoys doing besides planning for the bleak future she once thought was her only option. Annie notices one of Xena's doodles on the corner of a (failed) math test and signs her up for after-school art classes on a hunch. It's a rousing success. She takes pride in her daughter's progress, and the joy Xena expresses after each class.

Life is finally - _finally_ \- looking up.

Annie should've known it wouldn't last.

Xena stands in front of Annie, hands on hips, defiant as anything. "You couldn't be more wrong," she says.

"Where's your proof?"

"Seasons one through two, that's my proof. Rory _totally _should've ended up with Dean."

"You're completely insane!"

"Says the chick who thinks frickin' _Jess_ should've ended up with her. He was a jerk!"

"Well, I-" Annie stops mid sentence as she watches two operatives lead a man in handcuffs into the bullpen. The man freezes for a moment, stares at them, until the operatives yank him away.

"Annie? _An-nie_. . ." Xena singsongs. "Who's that?"

Annie grabs her shoulder. "No one."

She begins to pull her away from the scene when Auggie bursts in, stopping in front of them. "Annie, you gotta get Zee out of here. They're bringing in Ben Mercer for the Columbia op."

"Too late."

"Who the hell is Ben Mercer and why does he make Annie look like Benedict Arnold just walked in?"

"Annie," Joan approaches them. "We need to talk. Come to my office, please."

Annie kisses her daughter's hair. "I promise I'll explain everything, okay? For now, go with Auggie."

Annie storms after Joan into her office. "What the hell is Ben Mercer doing here," she demands coldly. "And why didn't you warn me."

"I didn't know until twenty minutes ago. He was arrested last night in Prague and when Calder thought his contacts would be useful on the Columbia op he had him sent here."

"Xena saw him."

"Does she know who he is?"  
"No."

"_Annie."_

Annie throws up her hands. "She's only been living with me for two months! I thought it was too soon."

"You shouldn't have kept something like that from her."

"Don't tell me how to parent my child." The words are sharp, but Joan knows their edges aren't directed at her but at Ben, for putting Annie in this situation.

"He wants to speak with you."

"In exchange for cooperation?"

"In exchange for a _chance_ at cooperation." Joan's gaze is steely, intentional, yet somehow still shows the expression of a concerned boss. She and Annie both know how important this op is. It could save hundreds of lives.

Hopefully it won't damage two in the process.

"Fine." Annie stands and stalks out of the room, leaving a bitter silence and tension in the air.

She sits in the interrogation room across from Ben. "Annie," he says, a Mona Lisa smile on his face. "Good to see you."

"I wish I could say the same."

"I take it you know who I am, then. _What_ I am."

"I do. Now what do you want from me?"

"Can't a guy just want to say hello to an old friend?"

"If the guy is you and the old friend is me? Hell no. _What do you want_, Ben?"

"I never realised how much I missed hearing you say my name until you said it."

"So you're still in love with me, is that it? Are you serious? You had your chance sixteen years ago in Sri Lanka."

Ben smirks. "You wish. No, there's something else I have my eye on."

"What?"

"The girl who was standing next to you."

It's like someone poured ice water down Annie's back, sending shivers down her spine. Her hands, under the table, clench into fists so tight she knows they'll leave nail marks. "What about her?"

"She's beautiful."

"She is."

"I'm her father, aren't I?"

"You're her sperm donor. Her father died when she was five."

"She has my eyes."

"And none of your personality."

"I wanna meet her."

"Absolutely not."

"Give me one good reason why not."

"Ben, you've killed multiple people in cold blood."

"Oh, and what do you call the lovely acts you commit for the US government, huh? Does she know about what happened in Sweden? Saudi Arabia? Hell, our own soil?"

"That's-"

"Different, right. Except it's not and you know that."

Annie slams her fist on the desk. "Yes it is! Because at the end of the day I get to come home to my daughter and know that I did right by her and by this country. Yes, there are things I regret, but none of them have ever made me want to run away and never come back."

He sighs. Rubs his hand across his face like he used to do when he was tired or frustrated. "I've done bad things, I'll admit that. But when I saw her standing there. . ." He lifts his head at her, really look at her, and for the first time this entire conversation, she feels like he feels something more than just self-preservation. "Five minutes, that's all I ask, and then I'll do whatever you want."

Annie doesn't say anything.

"What's her name?"

"Xena."

He smiles a faraway smile. "Xena," he says again.

A battle wages in Annie's head for what seems like hours. The room remains completely silent, Ben pretending he's not staring at Annie and Annie pretending that she doesn't notice. Finally, she stands. She looks down at him. "I make no promises. She is her own person and I won't make her do anything she's not comfortable with."

Ben grins, nodding. "Yes, I understand."

Annie glances at the one-way mirror, having a silent conversation with the operative on the other side of the glass. Without warning, she grabs the front of Ben's shirt in her hand, lifting him as far as his handcuffs will allow. Her face is inches from his. "If you harm one hair on your head I will end you."

Letting go, she marches out of the interrogation room.

A/N: For all you non-Americans/non history people, Benedict Arnold was one of George Washington's most trusted generals before he switched sides and fought for the British in the Revolutionary War. It was one of the most shocking betrayals in US history and I thought it fitting.


	4. Chapter 4

When Annie returns, Xena is playing Tic Tac Toe in Auggie's office. He puts an arm around her protectively when he hears footsteps, but removes it when he realises it's Annie.

"Hey. You ready for some answers?" Annie asks Xena, offering a hand.

They find themselves in the garden outside Langley's food court.

"So," Xena says. "Benedict Arnold guy. What's his deal?"

"Don't call him 'Benedict Arnold guy'. Wait, that might actually be an accurate assessment of him."

"Just tell me, Annie."

"Ben-" She stops, sighs. "Ben Mercer used to be a CIA operative. He went rogue. He has his own idea of justice, and he's been acting as a vigilante for the past sixteen years by using his CIA skills and contacts."

"Okay. Still doesn't explain why you freaked out."

"He's also your father."

"Wait, _what_?"

The look of shock and betrayal on Xena's face is almost more than Annie can bear. She feels the immediate urge to smooth the situation, to prove that she didn't knowingly have a relationship with one of the CIA's darkest secrets. "I didn't know he was CIA when I met him. We spent three weeks in Sri Lanka and then he took off without an explanation. I didn't find out why till three years later."

"So that guy we just saw being frog marched to the interrogation rooms is my _dad_?"

"No, he's not your dad unless you want him to be. He's your father. There's a difference." Annie takes her daughter's hands. "Now what you do with this information is your choice. If you never wanna talk about him again, I'll respect that."

"But?"

"But we have an angle here that we might never have again. We need Ben's cooperation for this op in Columbia. There isn't a single operative that has his kinds of contacts in that area."

"And where do I fit into all this?"

"He wants to meet you."

"Oh." Xena's face pales.

"This kind of leverage is something that would get him to cooperate. But I won't do it if you're not okay with it. We can find another angle."

"No, I. . ." she takes a deep breath, in and out. "This is important. It could save lives. I'll do it."

"It'll be completely controlled by you. You'll be in an interrogation room, he'll be cuffed to the table, and we'll have an agent on the other side of the door and cameras without a single blindspot. The second you feel scared or even uncomfortable, you say the word and we'll have you out in a heartbeat. You understand?"

"Yeah." Xena stands. "Okay. I think I'm ready."

Xena walks into the interrogation room. Every step is careful, measured, until she sits down across from Ben. Neither person has spoken, though his face holds an expression of pure wonder. "Hi, Xena," he says. He smiles awkwardly. "I'm Ben."

"I know." She fiddles with the hem of her T-shirt, looking down at her hands before meeting his eyes. She doesn't know whether to be nervous or happy. Terrified or overjoyed.

She thinks that, right now, she's some combination of the two.

"So, you're fifteen? Are you in school?"

She nods. "Sophomore," she says quietly.

"And it's. . . good? You like it?"  
"It's okay. I like art."

"Art." He smiles. "I bet you're great."

This isn't what meeting her father's supposed to feel like, she thinks. Everything he's said so far is nice, but something's _off. _She doesn't know what kind of terrible things he's done but she doesn't need to, not to feel the darkness seeping out of him like an inky black fog. He is deeply, irreparably damaged. And she's afraid of that.

"So you live with Annie? How's that?"

"Good. She's a good parent. Reliable. _Dependable_," Xena emphasises.

"I didn't want to leave her. Or you."

"But you did."  
"I didn't know you existed."

"Would it have changed things if you had?"

Ben's hopeful expression fades. His face hardens in a way that makes Xena understand that this is who he really is. "You're young, Xena. There are things you can't begin to understand."

"I'm smarter than you think. And I know you've done bad things. Killed people."

He pales. "How can you possibly know that?"

"I see it in the way people look at you. I heard it in my mother's voice when she told me about you."

Ben stands, slamming his palms on the desk as he shouts, "I did it for the _greater good!_" He looks feral, his eyes wild and terrifying, mouth snarling. The effect it has is immediate. Xena recoils as the agent on the other side of the glass opens the door for her. She leaves the room while Ben begs her to stay.

"No, no, come back! Come _back_!"

She ignores him. She pushes past the agents and runs to the elevator, stopping at the second floor. She bolts to the middle of the room and flies into Annie's arms.

"I've got you," Annie murmurs. "I've got you."


End file.
